


Through Closed Eyes

by hannibal_rises



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enabling Erwin, Improper Guide Dog Etiquette, Legally Blind!Levi, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Violinists, War veterans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-02-21 14:48:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2472143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannibal_rises/pseuds/hannibal_rises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erwin Smith and Levi Ackerman were the Commander and Captain of the Survey Corp and two of the only survivors of the war between the Survey Corp and Military Police. While hailed as War Heroes, they had fallen off the grid enough to live normal lives as they recovered from the injuries that took them out of service. Erwin had lost his right arm, and from a brain injury, Levi lost the majority of his sight. They went through their recovery in relative quietness until a university student stumbled his way into their lives, lured in by Levi's guide dog. As it turns out, the university student has more of an affect on the war veterans than they would have expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through Closed Eyes

Eren was used to his walk back to his apartment from the university by now. It was a simple, two room flat with everything he needed to get by as a struggling Criminology major, but it was home. The walk... the walk was what made it special. Sure, it was pretty off campus, but that made the place affordable, and after a few weeks he started to love his walk home. There was a small park with laughing children and overworked parents, the sound of the children's laughter always helped clear his mind, but his favorite part? His favorite part would have to be the Bernese Mountain Dog that rested in the window of one of the houses. It's large head rest on the sill, it's paws hanging out the open window, and it's face always content. “Well hello there, good sir.” Eren said, approaching the dog at the window, reaching his hand up to be sniffed and licked. Along with the affectionate greeting by the dog, Eren was greeted by the sound of a whining violin, it's notes filling the air with a content song that very slowly started building up in speed and joy. Momentarally distracted by the song, Eren was brought out of his trance when the dog barked, the sound of the violin ending in an abrupt screech, obviously caused by a jump of surprise by the player.

“Captain!” A deep voice scolded, the dog making a happy noise and barked again at Eren, who jumped slightly, once again having been distracted by the voice of the owner of the dog. Captain, the dog's name seemed to be, whined slightly and wiggled closer to Eren, who reached up to pet the dog's happy head. “Excuse me.” Eren heard the man's voice again and looked from the dog, up to the man who stood behind the dog now, violin and bow in his hands. His hair fell just above his thin brows, narrow eyes looking down at Eren, obviously unamused. “Isn't it proper etiquette to ask before petting someone's dog.”

Eren gulped slightly and let out a nervous laugh. “S-Sorry sir. I came to tell him hi and he barked at me until I pet him.” He tried to explain with a smile, only to receive a “tsk” from the man. “I'm sorry, was that you playing the violin?”

“No, I just carry around this instrument to scratch my ass with.” The man replied quickly, voice bland and practically dripping with bitter sarcasm. “Do you have anything else to do but stand here looking like you just shit yourself on my stoop?”

“Technically, I'm not on your stoop, sir.”

“Shut up, shitty brat.”

“Levi, why are you yelling at this boy?” A deep voice said from behind Eren, making the boy jump and turn quickly to look at the blonde man who looked like he could break someone with just his pinky, and Eren knew he had to have been a military man. The blonde man gave Eren a smile, and the boy finally looked over the tall man. He noticed first, that the man didn't have his right arm, and in his left hand was a large case, and the leash to a Greyhound who panted up at Eren happily.

“He shit himself on my stoop.”

“He's not on your stoop, Levi.”

“Shit in your hand, Erwin, or are you still constipated and that's why your face is like that?”  
“Just open the door.” Erwin replied, rolling his eyes as Levi left the window toward the door. Erwin turned his attention back to Eren just as Captain did, the large dog leaning out more to Eren and licking at him, making the young man laugh as the dog's tongue brushed across Eren's ear. “He seems to really like you. You're lucky, he's about as outgoing as his master.” Erwin teased. “I'm Erwin Smith, and that bundle of sunshine that was just standing in the window is Levi Ackerman.”

“Ackerman? My sister's surname is Ackerman.” Eren said with a smile. “I'm Eren Jager.”

“Jager? Like Grisha Jager?” Erwin asked with a small smile.

Eren nodded with a smile. “Yeah, he's my father. Do you know him?”

“He's a great doctor, are you going to the medical school in town?” Erwin asked, ignoring the sound or the door opening and the way Levi glared into the back of his head.

“No, I'm actually going for Criminology at the local University. I was just heading back to my place when I came to say hi to Captain here and ended up accidentally interrupting Mr. Ackerman.” Eren explained, sparing a glance over to Levi, who only narrowed his eyes farther.

“Eren. We have practicing to do.” Levi said coldly.

“Oh, I'm sorry. I'm going to go now then. It was nice to meet you Mr. Smith.” Eren said, smiling widely.

“Oh please, call me Erwin. I hope to see you again soon.”

“You too, Erwin. Mr. Ackerman.” Eren said, nodding to both men before turning and walking away.

Erwin walked up the steps of the stoop to where Levi stood and chuckled. “You do realize you're staring at his ass, right, Levi?”

“Go take a shit, Erwin.”

Erwin simply laughed and followed Levi into his home with a wide smile.

 

“Mikasa, I have a question for you.” Eren said as soon as he walked through the door of his sister's apartment, having used his key without even knocking. Mikasa sat in her kitchen, pouring over her notes from class that day and didn't even look up to her adopted brother who once again barged into her home. “The surname Ackerman, other than you where have I heard that from?” He asked, dropping his bag on the table and leaned on it.

“Are you serious, Eren?” She asked dryly, looking up to him. “You were on a binge for about three years about the Survey Corp how do you not remember Captain Ackerman?” She asked blankly, slapping the back of her brother's head. “Eren, what's that face for?”

Eren's face was blank, yet somehow like he was going through an existential crisis. “I think I just met Commander Smith and Captain Ackerman...”

“You're an idiot, why do you think that?” Mikasa asked with a sigh, giving up on her studying for a bit.

Eren sighed and waved his hands. “No, listen to me. I was walking home from class and you know that dog I was telling you about? Well, I went to actually like.. approach it and it let me pet it and when I stopped petting it it barked.” He said quickly, Mikasa just blinking slowly to keep up. “And the owner started talking to me, well more insulting me, but then his friend came and we were talking and he introduced them and said he was Erwin Smith and the owner of the dog was Levi Ackerman and I knew I recognized those names. You have to walk with me after class tomorrow, Mikasa please.”

Mikasa sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Eren, you need to calm down.” She said, shaking her head. “Weren't we planning D&D tomorrow anyway? I have a feeling your place is still a disaster zone, you need to head out and clean it before we go over tomorrow.” Eren's groan in reply was enough of an answer for her. “Do you want to stay for dinner?”

“What's for dinner?”

“What's always for dinner, we know I can't afford anything but cheap pasta.”

“Cheap pasta it is.”

 

Erwin and Levi walked down the street with their respective dogs, Erwin walking on the shorter man's left and smiling widely at the quiet comment Levi had just said. Levi himself wore a thick pair of sunglasses, right hand gripping Captain's guide harness, pointer finger on his left hand hooked into a belt loop on Erwin's pants as the blond couldn't grip his arm or hold his hand. Levi seemed to be smiling as well that was until he felt Captain jerk slightly and heard loud voices. Erwin glanced down to Levi and smiled softly when he felt a small tug on his belt loop. “You're all talk horse-face! We all know I will crush you today. I can just feel it, the D&D Gods are smiling on me today.”

“Eren, stop yelling.” Levi heard a soft yet masculine voice say to the voice he at least recognized.

“Do brats have any manners? Or do they really think screaming in the middle of the sidewalk is okay?” Levi grumbled, Erwin laughing.

“Hello, Eren. Nice to see you again.” The tall blond said, smiling widely. Levi could just hear the smile in the man's voice.

Levi could hear shuffling and an awkward laugh. “Nice to see you too Mister Smith, Mister Ackerman.”

“Erwin and Levi, please.” Levi heard Erwin say, scoffing to himself.

“Taking liberties again, Erwin.” Levi grumbled just to hear Erwin laugh.

“You play D&D?” Erwin asked, only laughing as Levi lightly hit him in the side.

“No, Erwin, you are not going to try to invite yourself to make them look like idiots. I don't even know why I let Hanji get you into D&D.” Levi scowled, putting a hand on his hip.

Levi hear multiple laughs at that. “You play D&D?” He heard a female's voice ask and Erwin's laugh.

“I do, he doesn't. Our friend tried to introduce the game to us and I was the only one to actually get into it, I haven't played in a while. We haven't really seen Hanji in a while so I haven't had the chance.” Erwin said, and Levi could feel by the sudden gust of wind that the man moved where he was standing. That shouldn't have unsettled him as much as it did.

“Maybe we could invite him to play at some point, especially with Anna in the middle of moving another player would be helpful.” A masculine voice.

“Eren, you should introduce us.” The voice that told Eren to stop yelling spoke up.

“Oh! Shit sorry!” Eren's loud voice spoke up again. “This is Armin, my best friend.”

Levi could hear people moving and felt a small double tap on his right hand that held Captain's harness and he promptly switched hands and held his right out to be shaken. He felt a slim, soft hand shake his. The hand ay have been soft but the shake was firm. “My sister, Mikasa” Another soft hand, but there were callouses that showed the girl wrote almost constantly and his thumb felt the tell-tale roughness of a boxer's knuckles. “Jean” The boy's hand was thin but the fingers were long and calloused as a guitar player's. As they were introduced and shook Levi's hand, he noted little things about each of them. Marco's hands were like Armin's but larger, no notable marks or anything, Annie's hands showed years of work, Sasha's had crumbs on them like she had been constantly eating, Ymir was missing her ring finger on her right hand and Historia's hands were perfectly manicured. And in the end, Levi shook a hand that had the callouses of someone who spent most of his time fighting and writing, a lot like Mikasa's. “Nice to meet you, Levi.” He heard Eren's voice.

Levi let out a “tsk” and dropped his hand with a grumble of “Brat”

Erwin laughed and shook his head. “You guys should get going we're keeping you from your game. But Eren, if you need a little extra cash stop by Levi's place tomorrow we need someone to walk Captain and Oswald when we can't. You up for that?” He asked, ignoring the fact he could feel Levi's unseeing eyes boring into the side of his head.

“Oh... shit that would be great actually I was just looking for a side job.” Eren said with an obvious grin.

“Alright, just stop by Levi's after classes tomorrow.” Erwin said, ignoring Levi's grumble.

“That's fine, Erwin, just invite people to other people's homes without asking them, it's not like you don't live there or anything.”

“We'll see you then, Eren.” Erwin said, smiling and looking over to Levi, reaching his left hand over to take Levi's and guide it to his dangling empty sleeve. Levi gripped the sleeve and could hear the group in front of them disperse as Erwin started walking, the pair walking through contently.

 

“What the hell are you doing, Erwin?” Levi asked once in the privacy of his home, turning back to Erwin who was taking the leash off Oswald and moving to take the harness from Captain's body.

“Enabling you to hit on a uni student, I thought that was obvious.” Erwin teased, placing the leash and harness on the bench next to the door.

Levi just sighed and grabbed out to the taller man. “But why? Why are you trying to hook me up with a uni student?” He asked, gripping Erwin's shirt in a way that would be threatening if it weren't for their relationship.

“Because he intrigues you. I can tell, I know how you are.”

“And you also know that I'm not stupid and I sure as fuck would never be unfaithful to you.”

Levi was only answered with silence beyond the sound of paws on hardwood. “You wouldn't be though. You know how I am. When has our relationship been anything but open?” Erwin asked, his hand cupping Levi's cheek as the shorter man loosened his grip on Erwin's shirt.

“Kiss me, old man, before I break my nose trying to kiss you.” Levi grumbled, tugging on the blond's shirt with strong arms, smiling slightly at Erwin's laugh before their lips pressed together.

 


End file.
